Newspaper Column: Turning Out Voters

Abstract:

In last year’s election for Reston Association directors, 24,676 ballots were mailed to RA
members of which 4,576 were returned, or about 18.5%. The issues facing the RA board then
and now have never been more critical to the lifestyle of Reston residents. On the expense side,
many of RA’s recreational facilities are reaching the end of their useful lives; the growth
explosion in the area has multiplied non-permeable surfaces at a scale disastrous to our ecology;
and RA faces a massive rent increase when its current headquarters lease expires in a few years.
On the income side, residential build-out has ended the revenue stream from new RA units; and
RA’s assessment, in the absence of user fees, is approaching an arbitrary ceiling established
when operating costs of recreational facilities were largely borne by user fees and has already hit
another ceiling established for apartment buildings.